Have you ever done anything like this before?
Do you know what A&R stands for?
No.
Artist and repertoire.
Oh, artist and repertoire.
Yeah.
Oh, okay. This is brutal.
I started DJing when I was 12. I used to try to rap.
It never really worked out that way for me.
Rapping is way harder than it seems.
This is all I've ever done is be a DJ.
From middle school, to high school,
to college to now, that was what I've done.
To get to that point where people are coming to you
to taste make, they pretty much trust you ear.
I have a lot of friends that are A&Rs.
Being in the game for so long, I run into a lot of A&Rs,
a lot of label reps,
a lot of people that work for the record label.
A&Rs will sometimes set up listening sessions
so you can hear the projects.
This was something I always wanted to do,
transitioning out of traditional radio.
I was like, "I want to be more behind the scenes in music
because that's really where my knowledge lies."
A lot of my friends who were doing other things
transitioned into being A&Rs. I have a little knowledge,
but I don't always get to see their day to day.
Meeting Ruddy was good.
Knowing he got started in the game
working with an artist named Jean Grey,
who I have a lot of respect for, he's like a silent assassin.
Seeing him off the riff
probably think he just listens to old school culture,
reggae and everything, but he's telling me about new artists.
He definitely knows his stuff.
We've got a lot to cover this week.
What do you know about A&R?
I know a little bit. I'm just going to be honest.
I don't know it all.
Basically you would be the liaison
or the point person for the artists.
You'd be the main communicator
between the artists and the label.
Okay.
Right? You're going to build it from scratch,
from inception until it reaches to the market place.
Right? That will pertain to recording,
mixing, if there's samples in it.
Right? You want to make sure you involved in that stuff.
Producers, songwriters, right?
You see the A&R sometimes in the studio.
You know the A&R signs the artists,
but a lot of times you don't know
what happens outside of that.
There's a whole spree of things that happen outside of that.
What are some things that happens in your field
that people may not see?
Man, there's a lot. There's a lot.
The job is to kind of cover up.
Sometimes it's about certain things as artists,
reneging on contracts, or going to shoot a music video
and then this person wants extra money
or this person isn't going to show up.
There's so many different scenarios and cases.
It's all making the artists look good.
Would you say this field is definitely based
on relationships?
Relationships and hustle because it's a cutthroat game.
Everybody's trying to get the next best thing.
A new generation has taken upon technology.
With their cell phones now, they're able to upload music,
find an audience, market to their audience,
and then by the time you hear about it,
they're at 200,000 views from your bedroom.
Then you let me know and then we're all chasing for it.
Yeah. The things you're saying kind of relates
to like the stuff I do as a DJ.
I remember coming up being on SoundCloud,
trying to find different joints to play,
but that still fits in that pocket.
I love all kinds of music,
but it's some of the biggest artists
that can't necessarily make a song for the club.
Some of those artists that make songs in the club
can't necessarily make,
I guess you would call, a radio hit.
Being in the clubs in the space that you're at,
you're going to find,
you're going to hear that next best thing.
You know what I mean? What you find in the night,
you bring to the office in the morning.
The office, we're detached.
Everything happens in the streets.
All right. I see I got a lot to cover this week,
but who am I working with?
All right. I got a project day for you.
Dae Jones, this chick from Chicago.
Okay.
Super dope.
She was the winner of BET's Next Rap Star.
Okay. I've seen a little bit of her performance.
She definitely had a lot of energy, which I love.
Me being a DJ, I love people that can get the crowd going,
especially when people don't know the music.
You being an A&R and me playing
A&R right now, it's really up to us to decipher
what's in that artist's personality.
What made her stand out for you?
Man. For me, her drip was crazy.
Her drip was something I hadn't seen
and the reaction from the crowd stood out to me.
Yeah.
She was definitely a crowd pleaser and a crowd favorite.
A big part of A&R and creating the artists' image
is knowing your history on the artists.
Have you done your research on her?
You know her swag from two years ago?
What's good.
I looked at Instagram.
That's as far as my research went.
Nah, nah, nah, nah. You got to get in depth.
I look at her Instagram.
All right. We've found it.
There's something she did about almost a year ago.
If he got a problem, the type that'll fight a bitch.
I'm the type of bitch that's going to put you in them wheels.
When I first seen the first set of footage,
I was already excited because I'm like,
"Man, she knows how to perform.
That means she knows how to really sell her records."
If an artist has a personality that you love,
they technically don't have to always have the best song,
but I already know she's strong as far as an MC.
That's really important.
Bad bitch. Bad, bad, bad bitch.
Tell me what you think.
I loved the image.
Clearly this is her older work so it does sound a little dated.
She's old. She's not young. I don't know. You cut that out.
She's not 14 years old. She's not 14, 19 years old.
She's coming and she's about her business.
She really wants to win.
All right. We're talking about her creativity.
She got great stage presence. Right now,
I feel like it's the time for women in hip hop with Tierra
Whack and I know you probably know more than I do.
Do you feel like there's a lane for her,
here's a space for her in the game right now?
A hundred percent, a hundred percent.
I feel like it's a woman's market right now.
Women have always been the main consumers,
so now they have a variety of women to speak for them
because you have someone like Cardi B
who is empowering women, to Rapsody, Tierra
Whack, Noname Gypsy.
All over the spectrum.
Megan Thee Stallion,
so there's someone for whatever girl or woman is out there.
How do you get that artist to trust you?
It all starts in a connection.
Yeah.
It all starts with the connection
and then proving what you can do.
There's a lane for you with Dae.
She's a whole lot, a whole lot of talent,
a whole lot of energy, a whole lot of swag.
Hopefully we won't bump heads, man.
I do have some knowledge being a DJ.
Hopefully she's open to receiving some of this info,
especially you being an OG, quarterbacking it.
I just hope she's open to something a little different.
let's have some fun.
Don't worry, man.
I'll make sure she listens to you.
Okay. Good.
Just make sure you deliver the records.
Put a good word in for me.
This time at large, putting together this single in a week,
people make 50 songs in a day.
If you're a real hustler, it shouldn't be a no brainer.
This record that you guys are doing
is going on her EP for Island.
Oh, okay.
It got to be official. It can't be no fugazi.
Got to be official tissue.
Today's expectations are lower.
It's not like we got bring a choir in.
You just got to make something that hits hard.
I got to make sure it's right.
We fine tuning everything as much as I can.
Please do, man. I don't need Latrice on my back.
Okay. I'm not nervous. I'm just curious.
It could be something there.
I've seen crazier things make money.
Just to be flat out, she's flowing kind of like generic.
I'm a DJ, but still to be in that studio making the music
is a whole different animal. It was too perfect.
Oh, okay. We got it.
You water a plant, it's going to boom.
Take care of it. It's like an artist.
It's going to gravitate. It's going to grab people.
I'm confident in that.
I'm going to move to it and groove to it
because I was doing that in the studio.
I'm going to keep that same energy.
She is a strong MC.
We need this nipped in the bud, ready to go ASAP.
This is (censored) anthem.